


A Shadow of Wings

by AramaniPantera (IceTalon)



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Betrayal, Captivity, Dragons, F/M, Flying, Lies, Magic, Mind Links and Telepathy, Misunderstandings, Nick Fury Lies, Soul Bond, Trust
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-11-19 05:59:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/569964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceTalon/pseuds/AramaniPantera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The history books had it right, Tony thinks bitterly as he rests against Liagoth's massive side, the smooth slide of scales and the warmth of her inner flame a stark contrast to the steel walls of the cell he's just been rescued from. He'd been a fool, to let them get so close, to think he had any family beside his dragon and Pepper, beautiful Pepper who's asleep in the richly appointed room behind him, courtesy of the Asgardians who'd been so eager to offer asylum to one of the last Dragon-Chosen in the nine realms.</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>The history books had it right, when they wrote about the emperors and kings of old, toppled from their thrones. He rose to the top of the world, only to be torn down and betrayed by those he considered his nearest and dearest.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What Are You?

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Maverick14, who has been a driving force behind getting this plotted and beta-ed. My thanks to them.

Long ago, all across the nine realms, there lived dragons, greats beasts with scaly hides of every color the denizens of the realms could imagine. The dragons were benevolent and made their peaceful existence high in the mountains or deep in the forests where no human dare tread. But these creatures were powerful magic users and, as is often the case, dark forces sought to control these magnificent creatures for their own gains.

A war broke out, dragons versus a group that called themselves “Wyrmblight”, an evil group of men and women who thought to use the dragons to take control of all the nine realms and leave nothing but terror and destruction in their wake. They weren’t counting on the dragons, once thought of as scholars and healers, to be ferocious fighters. 

Fire and ice blasted from the maws of the great beasts, wiping out archers and pikemen alike. But not even the most powerful of blasts from a dragon could not penetrate the magical defenses that secured their forts and garrisons and soon, the battle came to a stalemate.

The dragon Mur’rrac would solve the problem. A giant yellow brute with claws that could rend boulders, Mur’rrac suggested a partnership. With the humanoid races of the nine realms. Mur’rrac’s idea was looked up with incredulity and nearly derision, but Mur’rrac’s explanation would quickly turn the opinion of his fellow dragons in his favor.

The humanoid species of the nine realms, most of their species being new to the worlds and the use of magic, could not cast long range spells and needed to be close to their targets to be effective. From the backs of dragons, they could get close enough to the defended garrisons to cast spells to break their defenses and allow the dragons access.

The oldest dragons refused, on the grounds the humanoids were attacking them and could not be trusted. And so it fell to the youngest dragons to choose those that would ride upon their backs. They chose only the pure of heart, sound of mind and free of spirit and marked them as theirs, as they were possessive and would allow no others to fly with them.

They won.

To honor the tradition cemented by this first generation of dragons and their Chosen, eggs were brought before the young of the realms. The hatchlings within would only chose those younglings that they thought were the right ones for them.

Dragons and their Chosen would protect the world for centuries more, until a fateful day, some millennia later. A dark power rose from Midgard and infected a woman, turning her against all she knew. Already the woman’s soul was dark with hate against the dragons as, years before, she’d thought a dragon had hatched for her and instead it had hatched for the girl next to her.

The spirit latched onto that hate and anger, imbued her with the power, and helped her levy a plague of madness against the dragons before killing her. Male dragons took to the sky and fought to the death, lifeless bodies plummeting back to ground where their Chosen already lay dead of the wounds, the Bond between dragon and Chosen killing them. Nesting mothers trampled their nests in fits of rage and then, claws still caked with remnants of the eggs shells from their nests, killed each other.

Mages from the realms over fought to rescue and preserve what they could and, in the end, once the mages had purged the plague from the dragons, the damage was staggering. Midgard and and all of the other nine realms, dragonless, save for five, sickly dragons, who would never recover to full-strength, and thirty-three eggs, pulled from the nests of their raging mothers before it was too late.

In the end, the mages and the remaining dragon-Chosen pairs had no choice. With no eggs in the other nine realms, the chances of the remaining few hatching were slim to nothing. With heavy hearts, on a cold snowy day, the mages cast the eggs to the other realms, in the hopes that the hatchlings within would one day Chose.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tony found a stone, in the bottom right corner of the container that SHIELD gave him when he was trying to save himself from palladium poisoning. It was the darkest blue he’d ever seen, shot through with mercury, and he found himself inexplicably drawn to it. From above it looked smooth but, when he picked it up, he could feel the microscopic bumps and pitting of the surface.

He lost an hour to examining it, unwilling to put it down as old film reels played in the background. More than once, he could swear he felt it move, but instead chalked it up to exhaustion. Finally, when it looked like a solution was near, the stone was temporarily forgotten, laid on his desk amongst papers and old oil rags.

When he left to find Vanko, he stopped briefly to stare at it, mind begging him to pick it up, but he shoved down the feeling, as well as the panic regarding his reaction to the stone and suits up, ordering Dummy to guard the stone jealously. All while he’s gone, the feeling nags at the back of his mind and, when he and Pepper finally make it back to the house, the first thing he did was go downstairs to his workshop basement.

Dummy, for once, has done exactly like Tony’s told him to, and he’s hovering near the desk, heavy wrench clutched in his claw but chirping and whirring to the stone like it would understand him. Tony smirked a little and strode over, scooping the stone up and patting Dummy affectionately on the claw. “Good job, Dummy. Why don’t you take a break?” He said and the bot chirped something triumphantly before zooming away to his charging station.

Tony looked hard at the stone, face hardening slightly. “Why do I care about you so much? You’re just a stupid rock.” He snipes at the stone, fully expecting silence. What he’s not excepting is for the stone to give a noticeable rock, a sound not unlike a squawk emanating from within. He stops short of the rest of his rant, sucks in a massive breath which then whooshes out of his chest. “Well, fuck me, Jarvis. I’ve finally gone insane. The rock is making noises as me.” He sighed.

_“Forgive me sir but, as amusing as that idea is, you are correct to assume the stone indeed made a noise. I believe one would liken it to a young lizard, calling for its parent.”_ The AI reported and Tony’s eyes widened extremely, snapping down to stare at the stone.

“Jarvis, are you telling me that this isn’t a rock, but some kind of egg?” He asked.

_“Yes, sir. Since you left, there has been significant thinning of the outer shell and a very faint, rhythmic sound, not unlike a heartbeat, seems to come from within. I feel it is safe to assume that this is, in fact, some form of egg.”_ Tony shook his head.

“But that’s not possible. I’ve never heard of an egg this size and color before.” He snapped back, though not heatedly and he held the stone, no, egg, up for slightly closer inspection.

_“And I can find no matching description anywhere, sir. Perhaps you should wait until it hatches, and see what it reveals. It shouldn’t be long now, according the frequency of movement.”_ As if to match proof to explanation, the egg gave another rock and Tony nearly jumped.

“I...think you’re right, Jarvis. Let’s set something up.” In the end, Tony ends up lining one of the few remaining bathtubs in the house with three thick blankets and a few pillows, which he lays the egg on gingerly. He eases himself to the floor right next to the tub and orders the room temperature up. If it is some kind of lizard, then it wouldn’t like the cold. For hours, he sat on the tile floor, flicking idly through holograms, designing things and scrapping most of them.

Four hours later, when he’d just begun to doze off, slouched against the wall, there was a commotion from the tub. He jolted up onto his knees and peered over the edge, watching in fascination as the egg rocked once, twice, and then a crack appeared in the top. And then stillness. Worry and panic surged through him and he lunged for the egg, but when his fingers made contact with the pitted shell, it shattered in a rain of sparkling blue and mercury shrapnel.

He leaned back, hissing as he gazed at the cuts that sprinkled his arm and then turned his gaze to the tub. “No fucking way.” He said in disbelief and stared at the creature wobbling about on the blankets. The hatchling was the same deep blue of the egg, the front of its neck, its chest and its belly the same brilliant mercury. Its body was lean and yet broad, four stout legs supporting it as it wobbled about. But that wasn’t what had him stunned.

Curling from the hatchling’s back were _wings_ , blue shot through with silver and its tail, long and elegant, tapered into three points, each tipped with an arrowhead. Atop its head were stag horns and from the sides on the end of its muzzle came whiskers, reminiscent of the decoration Tony had seen on oriental dragons. 

“Jarvis, what-” He stopped and stared again. The nagging sensation was back, stronger than before and behind it was, confusingly, a color, an off-white that felt like yearning to him. He shivered with the intensity of it and the off-white shifted darker, a light vanilla white with a feeling of concern a slap in the face after the yearning of only moments before.

He leaned forward unthinkingly and scooped the hatchling up and it was just small enough to fit in the curve of his two hands, and brought it close to his chest. For his efforts there was a flash of golden yellow intermixed with mocha, accompanied by a feeling of contentment and affection. Tony found himself grinning giddily despite himself and he looked down, locking eyes with the hatchling. Its eyes were a silvery blue and Tony felt himself shivering with the intelligence and feeling that lurked behind them.

The hatchling opened its mouth, revealing rows of tiny needle-like teeth and, before Tony could say anything, it surged forward, teeth sinking into the flesh near the new reactor through his shirt. White hot agony seared through him, but he could make no sound and he felt his body locking up as he fell back against the tile floor. The last thing he saw before the world went dark was the hatchling curled up on his chest, blue eyes meeting his own.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pepper Potts was a patient woman. She had to be, considering who she worked with and was dating. Patience was just one of her many skills. So when Tony left the room at the hotel they’d been sharing an hour before they were meant to be on the StarkJet back, she chalked it up to his usual restlessness and got on the plane by herself. When she arrived at the Malibu mansion, half of the previously broken windows still blown out and not repaired yet, she expected to hear the usual cacophony of his heavy metal music coming from the lab.

What she wasn’t expecting was the absolute silence that met her, still and eerie as it settled over the house. She bit her lip. “Jarvis?” She said aloud and there was a soft whir in the air before she was answered.

_“Ms. Potts, sir requires assistance in third guest bathroom.”_ Was all the AI said and Pepper could feel her heart racing again, the news of Tony nearly dying, both from illness and from fighting, fresh in her mind. She raced to the room the AI had indicated and stopped dead on at the door.

Tony was sitting against the wall next to towel rack, peeling his button-down off and Pepper jolted when she recognized the dark red stain as blood. And there was a lot. Tony was hissing in pain and, she noticed with some consternation, that the sound was echoed. Her question was answered when she looked into his lap and saw the blue and mercury creature sitting there, hissing and snapping at the shirt as Tony chucked it away. 

He looked up at her and she gasped, hand flying to her mouth as she met his eyes. They were no longer the warm caramel brown she was so used to. Instead they were a glowing mercury, shot through with tiny, tiny lines of amethyst, emerald and sapphire. She shook herself, far more worried about his bleeding chest and surged forward, snagging one of the towels from the rack and kneeling down beside him.

The creature stared at her a moment before trilling lowly and squawking before waddling down Tony’s legs to curl up at his ankle. “Tony what is that thing?” She asked as she pressed the towel to his chest, hand settling gently over the Arc Reactor.

_“If I may, Sir, Miss Potts? The creature seems to match the descriptions of medieval dragons, though the ornaments on its head and face more closely resemble an oriental dragon from the ancient Chinese.”_ Jarvis intoned from above them. Tony and Pepper shared a look of both confusion and incredulity before Pepper pulled the towel and gasped again, which caused the inventor to follow her gaze down and then stare, equally dumbfounded.

Uncovered from the blood, a scar, like a raised tattoo, an equal in color to his eyes, now adorned his chest. A dragon, and this was unmistakably a dragon, its four legs grasping the Arc Reactor, like it was perch. It’s head curled up until it rested in the hollow of Tony’s throat, facing his jugular, mouth open in a roar with eyes like two small sapphires. Its wings spread out to his shoulders and its tail drifted all the way down until it wrapped around his navel in an almost complete circle.

Pepper and Tony stared at the mark, then at each other, for what seemed like eternity before their gazes drifted down to the creature curled up at Tony’s ankle, one question on both of their minds, though only Tony spoke it aloud.

“What are you?”


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper helped Tony finish cleaning the mark on his chest, which still bled sluggishly afterward so, with careful and, she thought bitterly, practiced hands, she helped him wrap gauze around his chest, mindful of the new reactor. All the while as they did this, the little creature slept on at Tony's ankle, occasionally trilling and turning over.

When Tony was cleaned up they rose from the bathroom floor and Pepper watched with amused and frustrated exasperation as Tony crouched down and scooped the tiny creature up in his arms again. Of course he wasn't going to let the hatchling, dragon or otherwise, out of his sight. It was, to him, a puzzle that he had to solve and Pepper, for all her worrying, would be by his side. The hatchling awoke when Tony picked it up, blinking brilliant mercury eyes, now the color of Tony's own eyes, shot through with that same myriad of stunning colors.

And Pepper stopped, staring at both the inventor and hatchling with startled understanding.

She herself loved to read, and devoured books of all genres, but none more-so than fantasy books. She'd always been drawn to their vivid back stories and intricate through-lines. Her favorite had been, thus far, the Inheritance Cycle, the story of a poor farm boy, bonded to a dragon. And while nothing so dramatic had happened to Eragon's appearance had at first occurred as had happened to Tony, Pepper couldn’t help but drawn the parallels.

She mentioned it to Tony shorty after they had arrived in the kitchen and Tony paused before looking down at the hatchling in his arms. The little creature, and Tony decided firmly in that moment that, indeed, it looked like a dragon and that he would call it that, stared back at him with eerily intelligent eyes and Tony felt a brush of possession, marked by a slash of cedar though the light blue haze that he's, unconsciously, gotten used to already. 

Tony was, in his own way, fascinated by the way the dragonling could, at less than two hours old, already communicate so easily with him, without words, and Tony wondered if he could do the same. He reached into his head and pulled on the most neutral feeling he could find, his own curiosity and puzzlement at the situation, tinged a light blue only a few shades darker than the Arc Reactor and imagined pushing it at the dragonling.

There was a moment of silence before there was a sharp sound in his head, not unlike a cry of surprised joy and it took Tony a minute to realize that Pepper hadn't heard it and was instead staring at Tony with patience. It had been in his head. Tony looked at the dragonling again and then wandered over to the island, setting it down and taking a stool for himself. Pepper decided to leave him to it and set down a bottle of water, a cup of coffee and a stuffed sandwich for him before leaving him to go and clean the bathroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tony drank his coffee and stared at the dragonling who stared back. He'd tried pushing more feelings at the hatchling and had only been semi-successful. He quickly discovered that feelings he made up were quickly discarded by the hatchling, and that it couldn't really be lied too, because it was entwined with him now.

He wondered if he could send words like he could emotions and very carefully, he formed a thought and pushed it gently at the hatchling. _**“Can you understand me?”**_ There was a moment of unsure silence before a tendril tickled his temple.

 _“T-tony?”_ The voice was soft and child-like, trilling and, Tony was shocked to realize, with the barest hint of an accent, one that he couldn’t readily place. He was only silent for a moment before he smiled and received a flash of bright yellow affection in return. Tony felt himself smiling a little in return, not even really realizing it.

A grumble from his stomach, echoed by a smaller, but no less urgent grumbling from the hatchling, pulled their attention away from the exchange and Tony grinned impishly. He pulled over the sandwich Pepper had left and took off the top piece of bread and the lettuce. It was thick-cut turkey, mostly likely fresh from the deli that week and Tony dragged out two of the thicker slices before tearing them apart with his fingers and holding one bit out to the hatchling.

The dragonling took the hunk of turkey from his fingers with enthusiasm and Tony couldn't help but smile as he sat back, content to join the hatchling in eating for the time being.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The hatchling just kind of...wormed its way into Tony and Pepper's daily lives. It didn't have a name and neither of them knew whether or not if was a boy or girl even. But it didn't seem to bother the dragonling much at all when Tony would shout “Get down from there scales!” instead of being addressed by a name.

Tony spent a day on the internet, using Jarvis to comb for all the myths and legends of dragons and Tony was fascinated to find out which ones held true and which were quickly proven false. The little dragonling loved shiny things and, more often than not when it accompanied him to the lab, the hatchling would try and make off with some small tool or another. Eventually Tony gave up trying to get the tools back and instead would craft tiny figurines out of leftover metals he had lying around and the hatchling would trill in sheer happiness before flutter-hopping away to the corner of the couch it claimed for itself.

It was not a strict meat-eater and Tony was only too amused the first time she stole asparagus off of Pepper's plate one day, gulping it down before Pepper could even open her mouth to protest. It grew exponentially and, before they realized it, the hatchling that had once fit in the palm of his hands was not the size of small dog and had all the energy of a dozen small children. Of course, this is when Tony was glad the Malibu mansion had such an open floor plan, which gave the little hatchling plenty of room to run and jump around without really worrying about breaking anything.

For now, anyway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The hatchling was named by accident, much to Pepper's endless amusement. Tony had spent nights nose to nose with the dragonling, who perched on his desk, tossing names around. Each had been reproached with a flash of rejection. Pepper had pointed out that the names he'd been suggesting had all been male names, and that he might try some female ones.

These were met with less absolute rejection and more thoughtful disagreement from the dragonling. Now confident that the hatchling was a female, he began again a foray to name the hatchling. At last, Tony would give up for the day and find something else to entertain him. The night it happened, Tony was underneath one of his many cars, the dragonling sat on his stomach and a tool jammed between his teeth. Pepper had come down to remind him of his schedule the following day.

“And don't forget, you have a meeting with the law firm in the morning to get the patents settled up.” Tony pulled himself slightly out from underneath the car, face scrunched in confusion and distaste. He hated lawyers. 

“Lee a' got'?” he asked, words muffled by the tool and Pepper took it to meant “Scree and Groff” the senior patent lawyers on the Arc Energy project. But before Pepper could respond in the affirmative, the hatchling squeaked loudly and began to jump up and down on Tony's stomach. Tony spit the tool out and his arms shot out to wrap around the dragonling, before he came up to sit with her against his chest.

“What what?” He asked. Pepper watched with amazement as they had another one of their silent conversations and then Tony was sounding something out, which sounded like a name, over and over again until at last he said “Liagoth” and the hatchling squeaked again, coming up to nip his chin and nose in that affectionate way she had.

Tony sat back looking pleased with himself and stroked his hands down the dragonling's, now named Liagoth, back, smearing grease over her deep blue scales. He rose up and stared at them both before looking at Pepper, in her clean dress and then gently set Liagoth down. Both inventor and dragon stalked forward and Pepper realized what they meant to do.

“Anthony Edward Stark if you get grease on this dress I will-!” She was cut off as, as one, they surged forward. Liagoth curled through her legs, painting grease on her stockings and Tony grabbed her in a hug, laughing as he brushed kisses all over her face, no doubt getting that covered in grease as well. She shouted at him the whole time, barely containing her laughter as she smacked him gently with the clipboard, demanding he let her go.

When he did, both he and Liagoth moved away and Pepper looked down at herself. She was, indeed, covered in grease now where Tony and Liagoth had touched her. She sighed but smiled because both inventor and dragonling looked so pleased with themselves that she didn't have the heart to scold them. She glanced at her watch, and noted it was later in the evening. So she reached over and grabbed his hand.

“Come on. We're both going to shower and then relax for a while. You've been at it for days.” Tony, for once against his usual habit, just nodded and smiled that blissed out happy smile he only got around her and, recently, around Liagoth, gave instructions for Jarvis to lock down the lab and followed her up to the master suite.

Tony didn't take baths anymore. Not since he'd returned from Afghanistan, and Pepper never questioned why, at least out loud to Tony, only helped him find a company to replace all the baths with massive walk in showers. Liagoth climbed in with them, as she had since day one, and lay in the basin behind Tony, trilling and squeaking in content as the water dripped over her from the head above. Pepper took a minute when she was washing his chest to stop and marvel in the trust he had in her. First with the Arc Reactor and now with this, the new mark that adorned his chest. He shivered when she ran gently fingers over it. It was scaly to the touch, but soft and supple. He made a sound when she pressed on it and she removed her fingers with a mental note to herself. It was, also, apparently, very sensitive to touch.

The shower finished quickly after that and they dressed in loose clothes before making their way to the living room and all three of them collapsing on the couch in one, comfortable, heap.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A month later and Tony was more than impressed by Liagoth. She continued to grow and was, at that moment, the size of a very large dog. She still loved cuddling with Tony and hanging out in the labs but Tony was growing worried. Surely a creature so large, and on that was undoubtedly meant to fly no less, could not be comfortable in the mansion.

He was leaning on the counter in the kitchen thinking of what he could do with the Iron Man suit when it happened.

Liagoth came bounding in, warbling and trilling with happiness when her forepaws scrabble don the freshly done linoleum and she ran headlong into Tony. There was a moment of distortion, bright light and loud sound, and Tony waited until the world stopped spinning before and went quiet before he leaned over and emptied his stomach onto the ground.

And froze.

Ground? He'd been in his kitchen just a few seconds ago. Where was he now? He staggered to his feet, wiping his mouth off on his sleeve and looked around him. “Shit. Definitely not my kitchen anymore.” He sighed. Wherever they were, it was night and Tony was standing in middle of some kind of field of tall grass, which was coarse to the touch. He sighed and turned to Liagoth. But before he can ask if she even knows what happened, and he knows she'll respond in that way of her's, with colors and emotions and picture but not words, never words unless it's his name, there's a sound to his left.

Tony turns around to investigate and freezes.

From the long grass comes a great shape, taller and longer then a bus, emerald green with terrifying amber eyes and beside it a man of impossible height and ice blue skin.

And the creature snarls.


	3. Chapter Three

Tony felt a minute of inescapable panic as he was confronted with his would-be attackers. Both man and beast were colossal and Tony, who had always been short all his life, keenly felt the intimidation of the height discrepancies.

He was about to turn tail and run when another sound reached his ears. He risked turning around and was confronted with a sight he would never forget. Liagoth was snarling, sounding as loud as a beast more than triple her size. Her eyes snapped with rage, and smoke, thick and black, streamed from between he bared teeth and out of her nostrils. She had her wings outstretched wide and Tony was almost surprised by the rush of gray, black, red and white, the litany of emotions blindsiding him.

_ProtectFearRageMineminemineMINE!!_

Tony was bolstered by it, that this little dragonling, who'd barely known him all of three months, would stand up for him against so large an opponent. He stopped backing up, drew himself up and puffed out his chest the best he could. Liagoth came up beside him and together they faced down the threat.

Who started laughing. Loudly too.

Beside him Liagoth lowered her wings slightly, as if sensing that the threat, while still there, was no longer imminent. The giant said something, and both Tony and Liagoth shared a look of incomprehension. The giant sighed, cleared his throat and spoke again.

“What are you doing out here, all alone at night? The _Unvuffden_ could catch you.” His voice was thick with an accent that Tony could only slightly place, almost as if he'd come from the United Kingdom, but different somehow. Tony and Liagoth shared another look and, before turned to address the giant, Tony placed his hand between Liagoth's antlers, one blue and silver wing coming out to wrap around his leg.

“Uh...what?” Tony questioned, intelligently considering the situation he thought, and the giant rolled his eyes again.

“Let me guess. You have no idea where you are?” He asked, and received twin nods from both human and dragonling. He sighed, rubbed his forehead and then patted the great creature next to him on the shoulder. “I thought as much. You’re on Alfheim, Realm of the Light elves, and sanctuary to the few Dragon-Chosen pairs that remain. I am Sabjorn, and this is Jerekt, my dragon. Who are you?” He asked. 

Tony and Liagoth shared a split-second look before Tony spoke. “I’m Tony, and this is Liagoth.” He said, gently patting his dragon in emphasis. The giant, Sabjorn, nodded and smiled. 

 

“Well, Tony, Liagoth, you might as well follow me. It can get cold here at night, and I imagine you might be hungry.” As if to prove his point, Liagoth’s stomach rumbled loudly and Tony smirked softly. Leave it to her to be hungry when they were on an alien planet.

Sabjorn chuckled along with Tony and then turned, motioning to follow as he and his dragon led the way through the tall grass. Tony didn’t know how long they walked, but soon he could smell the distinct scent of wood smoke, though it smelled of nothing he’d ever smell before, and he could see the shadows of a high flame flickering over the grass.

At last Jerekt’s massive body broke the veil of foliage, and Tony saw something he’d only seen described in books A massive gorge of the darkest stone he’d ever seen. In the very bottom was lit a massive bonfire, with what seemed to be whole trees leaned up against one another. The walls of the gorge were lined with smaller openings and Tony could just see jeweled shapes of every size and shade sleeping within.

But, as they approached, the gorge seemed to come to life. One beast leaned his massive ruffed head out of his cave and trumpeted a warning, which Jerekt returned, and Tony was startled to feel the very ground beneath his feet shake with it. The gorge was soon ringing with the sound of dragons and Liagoth joined in, even her small voice sounding like a great horn in the cacophony of sound.

They followed a smooth path down to the bottom of the gorge, and Tony watched with amazement as the dragons came gliding down from the caves, beings of every size and race perched on their backs, waving to Tony in greeting. Soon they were ringed all around with dragons and their Chosen, fifteen of each, Sabjorn and Jerekt not included. Liagoth pressed into his legs, and Tony would have been knocked silly with the wash of colors and emotions if he weren’t used to it already.

Interest, excitement, nervousness, joy, fascination. All of it flashed across his mind’s eye before he could really register what was going on in his own head, and Tony reached a distracted hand down and ran it down her neck from the top of her head. Sabjorn turned to him with a smile and threw his hand out, motioning to the gathered dragons and Chosen.

“Welcome, Tony, to Southwind Hollow, home of the Dragons.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour later, and Tony was overwhelmed. First, Sabjorn had allowed the others to introduce themselves and their dragons, and Tony’s brain was processing the information as fast as he could. There was everyone from Ulftin the Warbear, a dwarf, and his dragon Valtkyr, a massive orange brute with golden and white markings to Sylis Lightfoot, an elf and his dragon Dvalinn, a smooth scaled gray and purple queen.

Finally, when they had completed the introductions at last, they gathered around the large bonfire, and Tony was given warm stew and cold wine while one of the older dragons slid over a quarter of venison for Liagoth to gnaw on. While he ate, the others spoke and Tony listened with interest as they covered everything from the origins of the dragons and their Chosen to what this place was.

Tony briefly felt ill when he thought about losing Liagoth to anything, let alone a fight brought on by disease-induced insanity and the others nodded in understanding sympathy when he had to put his food now momentarily and rub his hands over Liagoth’s side, as if reassuring himself that she was still there.

Southwind Hollow, as it turned out, was land gifted to them by the Queen of Alfheim, to be held by at least one dragon and Chosen pair for all of eternity. Every dragon and their Chosen ended up at Southwind eventually. Because they aged with their dragons, so long as they weren’t mortally wounded or took terminally ill, they could live for centuries and centuries. The best example of this was Halaani and his dragon Suramar.

Halaani was a race long thought dead by the same name, a race of large wolf-like humanoids, who populated the same mountains as the dragons. Halaani had been but a pup, just Chosen by Suramar when the Great Illness struck, and he’d been guarded and trained by the good wizards. Now, thousands of years old, he and Suramar were the only permanent residents at Southwind Hollow. And while Halaani’s fur was rough and gray and Suramar’s cream and gold scales no longer glittered as they used to, both were still formidable, and Tony received the impression of great power when the old the wolf had reached and grasped his arm in a gesture of greeting.

It was halfway through the night when he realized that he might be missed considering he wasn’t exactly in his kitchen anymore. Or Earth for that matter. Sabjorn had laughed warmly and smiled disarmingly as he leaned back against his dragon’s side. “You’ll be fine. Time travels differently here than it does on Midgard. If my calculations are correct, and they usually are, you’ve only been gone for about half an hour, and Suramar and Jerekt will be showing your little one how to do the Bifrost spell here in a minute, so you can return home and make arrangements.”

At Tony’s look of confusion, Ulftin smiled. “You didn’t think we sent all new dragons and their Chosen out into the world without any kind of training did you. No. Here you’ll get about two and a half years worth of training in about two weeks on Midgard. But if you’re worried about being thought missing after only half an hour, you definitely need to make arrangements for two weeks.” Tony nodded. That made perfect sense.

Finally, an hour later, Jerekt and Surmar had been successful in teaching the Bifrost spell to Liagoth, and both she and Tony were preparing to leave. Tony shook hands or hugged each person in turn, and touched foreheads with each dragon before taking a firm grasp on one of Liagoth’s back spikes.

There was another wash of color and sound and Tony found himself back in his kitchen, sprawled on his floor with Liagoth lying next to him. Tony grinned at her and Liagoth flashed back with affection and amusement. Tony scrambled to his feet. Only to come face-to-face with Pepper, who looked annoyed at his disappearance and reappearance act on the kitchen floor.

“So. Would you like to explain what just happened?”

~*~*~*~*~*~~

It took about forty minutes to explain to Pepper everything that happened and at the end she merely smacked her forehead lightly with the folder she was carrying. “So let me get this straight. Liagoth reached a milestone in her development, preformed accidental magic, and teleported you to another realm?”

Tony nodded. “So far you’re good.” He said, grinning cheekily. She rolled her eyes.

“And once you were there, you met sixteen other beings, all of varying races, that had also become, what was you called it? Oh, right, Chosen, and now resided in a place called Southwind Hollow, which is land gifted to them by the Queen of the Light Elves.”

Another nod. “Spot on.” He said, taking a sip of his coffee. It tasted a little weird after the odd, almost non-alcoholic wine he’d been given in the Hollow. Pepper watched him as he took a strip of bacon off his plate and effortlessly flipped it to Liagoth, who was lounging on the floor, her snout buried in her bowl of milk, cornmeal and venison blood. An odd combination, but one she enjoyed every morning.

“And now, you need to go away for about two weeks, which in reality will be about two and half years, so you can train with the others how to be a proper Dragon-Chosen. Is that about it?” Tony nodded and scooped an egg onto his piece of toast.

“Yea, that’s about it. Look I know it’s hard to imagine that’s what happened, But seriously? We’ve had a dragon in the mansion for the past how many months. How is this any weirder than that? I mean I have a giant glittering tattoo on my chest just from touching her. That’s magic, if nothing else. Or, you and I are both locked in some shared delusion and we need some serious help.”

She snorted and bopped him lightly on the head, which earned her the usual roguish smile as he lounged in his chair comfortably, looking for all the world like a particularly happy cat. “Oh very well. I can watch the company for a little longer. I’ll tell the Board that you took some time off to deal with your illness and that you’re unreachable on some little island north of Laos.” He raised his brow at her in confusion.

“Why Laos?”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Finally, the day arrived that Tony was due to leave. He’d packed extremely light, only a small backpack, containing the very essentials. He and Liagoth were standing on the beach, waving to Pepper, who was standing on the porch, looking nervous.

With one last wave, he grabbed one of Liagoth’s spines. There was the usual, and now familiar, rush of color and sound and this time, when they landed, Tony only had to pinwheel his arms to keep standing. Halaani and Suramar met them this time and the old wolf had smiled, showing teeth. He took Tony’s bag, faced he and Liagoth north and then growled.

“We’re going to work on your speed today.” Was all he said and when Tony turned, he saw Halaani in a starting position, Suramar crouched behind him.

“You get a five second head start.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the reviews everyone!

For Pepper, the two weeks passed quickly. The Board took her excuse for Tony’s absence with little fuss, much to her relief, and there were no meltdowns that required major damage control.

Tony had only been able to give her a day of the week for his return, unwilling to give her an exact time because of the Bifrost spell’s occasionally unpredictable manner. So, on the friday he was set to return, Pepper brought all the paperwork back to the mansion and set up shop in one of the offices facing the ocean, settling in for a long wait.

And wait she did, until at last, late that evening, a few miles away over the churning waters of the ocean, she was witness to a flash of brilliant color and a low rumble of sound, like thunder. She dropped her papers on the desk and strode out of the office, through the hall and out onto the stairs that led down onto the section of beach Tony owned.

She kept her eyes trained on the water, and moments later, was treated to a sight that she would remember for the rest of her days.

Over the water they floated, silhouetted by deep storm clouds and weak moonlight, allowing her to just make them out. She knew that, for them, it had been two and a half year, but dear stars above she wasn’t aware what a change that would make.

Liagoth had grown massive, the size of a coach bus with massive wings that spread far on either side of her, carrying her and her passenger with ease. Her sapphire scales glittered in the milky light like jewels and Pepper was momentarily breathless.

Liagoth skated near and then came to hover gently in front of Pepper, wings gently batting the air as she slowly landed with only the sound of settling leather, most likely from the harness that adorned her chest. Liagoth turned her luminessienct mercury eyes on Pepper, and the woman was surprised to see warmth and affection in those glittering depths.

But then her attention was drawn away. There was the sound of a carabiner disengaging and then something soft against the leather and scales and around the front of Liagoth, looking entirely too pleased with himself, was Tony.

He’d grown more solid in his time away, and pepper could see his arms, usually taut with the lean muscles he’d gained while operating the Ironman suit, were bulging a little more without looking like he did more than a little extra lifting. He’d grown darker, and his eyes fairly glowed with power. She shivered a little as that intense metallic gaze locked with her own, and then they were both moving.

Tony hugged her like the world was ending and she was the only thing keeping him alive. For him, it had been far longer than two weeks and he seemed entirely content to keep holding her until the sun came up.

Finally, after a short while that truly felt like an eternity, Liagoth rumbled quietly, a deep bass sound that shook the very ground they stood upon and Tony pulled back. Pepper realized with a jolt that his eyes were that familiar warm caramel brown that she so loved, and Tony smiled at her, teeth glinting.

“Glamour charm. Much easier than contacts.” He explained. reluctantly he pulled away and then moved back over to Liagoth. “Help me?” He asked, turning back to her. She nodded and moved forward, reaching up to scratch around Liagoth’s whisker pads and between her antlers like Pepper knew the great dragon loved when she leaned her head down. From the harness Tony carefully removed two medium leather rucksacks and a bed roll. Pepper took them up the stairs and rested them both under a table before heading back down.

Tony was carefully removing the large harness from Liagoth and Pepper accepted an offered cloth, covered in some kind of grease, and began to rub it over Liagoth’s sides while Tony took another and carefully attended to the harness. When that was done, Tony waved his hand over it with a few muttered words and it shrunk down to a human size. Once that was done, Liagoth’s scale fully tended, the great dragon closed her eyes and then shrank until she was little more than the size of a half grown husky.

Pepper locked eyes with Tony and smiled.

“Handy.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Inside the mansion Liagoth curled up on her spot in front of the main fireplace and Tony led Pepper into the bedroom. Here, she helped him out of his own harness, little more than a few strips of tough leather with an enchanted chain meant to keep him attached to main harness in flight, and hung it up in the closet.

“We’re lucky. We were racing a storm over the water on our way in.” He said, not bothering with the grease for his own harness. She looked at him closer now, and smiled. Dressed in linen tunic and pants in a deep earth color with green piping, he looked healthier than she had ever seen him. 

She watched him removed shining bangles from his wrists, ankles, neck and waist, carefully laying them on the bedside table. At her questioning look he smiled brightly, that manic glint coming to his eyes, the one he got when he was going to explain one of his inventions. “Collapsible armor. Carrow, one of the dwarves from Southwind Hollow, wanted to know what I was going to do about armor, since she knew we didn’t wear that down here anymore. Well, a little ingenuity and some magic and viola! Magic, collapsible armor, based off my suit!” He crowed, and she beamed and laughed good-naturedly at his pride and excitement.

Carefully, she helped him unpack the rucksacks. With each new item that was pulled out, Tony’s eyes flashed with memories. One of the things she pulled out of the impossibly deep rucksack was a stick that had Tony laughing while at the same time wincing and rubbing his head with a grimace. Tony smiled and elaborated.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_“Tony! Go up the hill and fetch me a stick, three feet long.” That was Halaani, and Tony nodded, putting down his bowl of thick oatmeal and scurrying away. He’d only been in the Hollow for a week, and already he’d picked out one of the higher alcoves for he and Liagoth to make their own, so his climb up to the thick trees was short._

_It took some time for him to find one of the proper length, an Eldergleam branch, three feet long and an inch in diameter, whippy with wood dark but gleaming in the morning sun. He hurried back down and gave the stick to halaani, who nodded. “Very good. Finish eating, then meet me in the usual spot when you’re done.” Tony nodded again and spent the next fifteen minutes on the rest of his oatmeal, a fresh starfruit and the elvish version of coffee before he downed some water, made sure his clothes were clean and went back up to the top of the Hollow._

_Halaani and Suramar were waiting for them, and Halaani smiled. “Good. We’re doing a little something different today. Liagoth and Suramar are going down to the river. to build up her wing strength by swimming.” Tony watched as both dragons walked away, leaving him alone with the Old Wolf, as he had taken to calling the other._

_“This,” said Halaani, holding up the Eldergleam branch. “Is called a hitstick! Can you figure out why we call it a hitstick, brat?” He teased. Tony shook his head and he wasn’t expecting the rap along the top of his skull. It wasn’t even that hard of a hit, but it was not something he wanted to put up with often._

_“In my day, we valued speed and endurance over strength, because we could be on dragon back or helping the wounded for hours and hours on end. That kind of thing requires you to have balance, poise, cunning and, yes, speed, strength and endurance. Before you’re allowed to learn the magic, and before you and Liagoth are even allowed in the air, you will learn all of these things. We’re going to start with speed and endurance. Every day, you will run four miles. During these four miles, you will have to stay in front of me and out of reach, the entire time. Everytime I reach you, I’ll rap you over you skull. The number of times, I will mark into the wood, and the day you can do all four miles, one month in a row, without me touching you, I will grant you this branch back._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pepper gaped at him and he smiled. “Old Wolf liked that lesson most of all, I think, but it saved me in the end. It took me six months before I was able to avoid him the way I was supposed to.” Tony merely chuckled at her aghast expression, carmel eyes twinkling merry. They continued to unpack the bags, and Pepper glanced at each item in interest. Most didn’t have grand stories attached to them, but she still listened to the words with rapt attention as he explained each.

A sheath, a dagger, a heavy woolen cloak in the same mercury as Tony and Liagoth’s eyes, another leather harness, this one inscribed with runes and lined with soft fur. A cap made of soft fur and a pair of gloves made of what looked to be Liagoth’s own scales, dyed a neutral black.

It took them nearly an hour to fully unpack everything and set it carefully away, and when they were done, Tony helped Pepper up off the floor and both wandered into the living room. Liagoth was still sprawled comfortably on the rug and Tony happily heaved himself onto the large couch, holding his arms open until Pepper situated herself within his embrace.

They fell asleep like that, the only background noise the happy crackling of the fire and the deep, contended rumble of the dragon on the hearth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning started early, to Pepper’s surprise and she was treated to the amusing sight of Tony standing in front of the coffee maker, looking absolutely stumped. She couldn’t contain a snort, and, chuckling all the while, quickly jogged the poor man’s memory before going about her own schedule, making her tea and breakfast for them both. When that was done, and they were both sitting at the table, Pepper noticed that Liagoth was still asleep.

“She not hungry?” She asked, and tony shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee before he answered. “She had two deer a few days ago. She’s a little older, her metabolism has slowed, plus we’ve been taking it easy this week, she didn’t burn as many calories. She’ll go hunting in a few days.”

With that explanation, she finished up and Tony put his coffee aside, resting his chin on his hand, humming quietly. “Anything I need to take care of immediately?” He asked, locking eyes with her briefly before glancing again into the living room. Pepper thought about it a moment before nodding.

“Fury has been wanting to talk to you.” Tony groaned loudly and let his head thump to the tabletop in annoyance. 

“He didn’t buy the whole “Laos” thing, did he?” He asked the obvious, and Pepper shook her head, which caused Tony to let out another groan before he sat straight up in his chair and nodded. “Might as well get this over with,, before he decides to be a pain in my ass again and start sending his pet agents after me.”

~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony walked into the SHIELD building with a much put-upon look, coffee thermos clutched in one hand, the other shoved in the pocket of his suit jacket. He strode up to the receptionist, and really, what kind of secret government agency had receptionists?, and stood patiently. It was but a moment before she turned to him.

“Can I help you?”

“Tony Stark to see the Director.” Was his short reply, but she simply nodded, clacked away at the keyboard for a moment before nodding to herself.

“He’ll see you right now.” Was all she said, and Tony nodded, marching away to the elevator that had opened for him automatically. The ride was short, and soon Tony found himself striding towards the doors he’d only seen one other time, and that was right after he’d fought at the Stark Expo, and he’s signed on to consult with SHIELD.

He didn’t bother knocking, not that it mattered, as Fury was sitting at his desk, chin resting on interlocked fingers, looking directly at him with those fathomless dark eyes. Tony met his gaze head-on, with a raised eyebrow and a slight curling of his lip in a parody of a lopsided grin, showing sharp teeth.

But there was no questions about his absence. Not even a sharp remark. Instead, the Director merely sank back in his seat and looked at him evenly.

“What do you know of Project: Rebirth?”


End file.
